Monument record MDO3051 - Round barrow on Came Down, Winterborne Came

A circular bank and ditch surrounding a depression. This has been interpreted as a ring-work possibly related to a pond barrow or henge monument. Alternatively it is suggested that it might be the remains of a destroyed barrow, the mound having been removed. Visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs {1} and digitally plotted for the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

'H' Much spread bowl barrow about 35 feet diameter by 1 1/2 feet high. <1> <3>

'H' SY 68858634. Bowl barrow, diameter 12.0m. and height 0.8m. No visible ditch. Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. See ground photographs. <4>

A circular bank and ditch surrounding a depression. This has been interpreted as a ring-work possibly related to a pond barrow or henge monument. Alternatively it is suggested that it might be the remains of a destroyed barrow, the mound having been removed. Visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs <1> and digitally plotted for the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

<1> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 1057-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDO12018.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

('A' - SY 68648617; 'B' - SY 68678620; 'C' SY 68718621; 'D' - SY 68718626; 'E' - SY 68678628; 'F' - SY 68778623, 'G' - SY 68818625; 'H' - SY 68868634) Tumuli (NR)

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 507 (Monograph). SDO150.

'(49) RING-WORK (SY 68 NE; 68728621), 45 yds. E. of the N.E. mound of round barrow Winterborne Came (28). A depression 41 ft. in diam. and 2 ft. deep in centre is surrounded by a bank 25 ft. wide and 1¾ ft. high broken on S.E. by a gap 15 ft. wide, perhaps an original entrance. An external ditch 22 ft. to 28 ft. wide and 9 ins. deep was recently filled on E. with soil from Dorchester containing Roman and later material. Whether the ditch continues across the gap in the bank is unknown. The form and position of the work, within a close-packed barrow group (AG) Came Down Group, Winterborne Came), suggest kinship with pond barrows or 'henge' monuments.'

<4> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 11-JAN-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<5> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, sdr 500 (Index). SDO12304.

Grass covered on golf course. Management restricted to mowing and spraying. A tree has been planted on the S perimeter of its bank. Its central hollow is overgrown with weeds. Ditch still visible on its NW side. 7/3/C

<6> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document). SDO12407.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452105 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Mar 8 2024 8:02PM